Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an object information acquiring apparatus and a laser apparatus.
Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, photoacoustic apparatuses which cause an object to be irradiated with pulsed light, receive the photoacoustic waves generated inside the object with a probe, and image the form or function inside the object have been researched considerably in the medical field. As a pulse light source of the photoacoustic apparatus, a high-output solid-state laser is used. In order to stabilize the amount of pulsed light of the solid-state laser, it is necessary to stabilize the temperature inside the pulse light source.
Thus, proposed is a laser apparatus that performs a warming-up operation until the temperature inside the pulse light source becomes stable. Patent Literature 1 discloses an apparatus that performs a warming-up operation when the apparatus is turned ON, and determines a correction coefficient of the laser output command value after the temperature inside the light source falls within a predetermined range.
Moreover, a circulator for stabilizing the temperature inside the light source during emission is proposed in Patent Literature 2. With the circulator of Patent Literature 2, stabilization of the laser output is sought by circulating and supplying, to a laser oscillation unit, a cooling medium that is controlled for causing the temperature to be constant.
Moreover, flash lamps are often used as the excitation source of the solid-state laser. By performing Q-switching after causing the flash lamp to emit light and exciting the laser medium, sudden laser oscillation is generated to output a strong laser beam known as a giant pulse.
Patent Literature 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-251855
Patent Literature 2: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H11-097769 (1999-097769)